Training: More Than Just a Dirty Word
QUESTION: What if you train your people and they leave, taking their newly acquired skills with them? ANSWER: What if you don’t train them and they never leave?
Thursday, December 01, 2011
By John Trotti
In my callow youth I had the privilege of wallowing in mud, choking on dust, and enduring insults and inane commands from the mouth of my Drill Instructor, whose unenviable task it was to turn me and 29 other miserable scum-sucking civilians into Marines.
His name was “Sir,” followed very quickly by the rest of his name, “Yes Sir.” And it was only after I had graduated from his care, that I found that he had other names…Sergeant Daly and even Ralph to his contemporaries whose ribbon-bedecked tunics sported three chevrons perched on two or more rockers.
During the 12 weeks he had us in his charge, he provided us with daily doses of training on subjects running the gamut from safety and leadership, to making up a tight bunk and killing enemies, but to tell the truth, whatever they were, no matter how important to our well-being, or how enthusiastically they were presented, the words themselves were lost almost as soon as they were spoken. What was not lost was who and what Sir Yessir was, as well as the intensity of our desire to accomplish whatever tasks he set before us.
What was not obvious at the time was that Sergeant Daly was not the be-all or end-all of the training effort at Quantico. Indeed, he was the next-to-last link in a chain that ran unimpeded to the Commandant of the Marine Corps himself (the biggest Sir Yessir this side of the Styx, as far as we were concerned) whose presence was felt at each succeeding level right down to ours, so while we might not have been able to articulate it, there was no doubt that Sir Yessir’s authority came from the top.
Sound corny? Perhaps, but if you look beyond the obvious objectives of training, you see the development of a bond and that what separates teachers from presenters lies less in their linguistic skills than the line of authority they represent…and why such distinctions are important.
If, like the Commandant, you sit at the head of an organization—be it a megacorp, a municipal public works department, or a regional subcontractor—it’s up to you to set not only the goals and objectives for the operation, but also the tone for how these are to be accomplished. So let’s look at several functions of your training efforts that go beyond their immediate purpose and impact the very foundations of your enterprise.
- Maximizing your human capital—Not only are your employees your most important asset, but they are also a depreciating one that needs continuing investment to help them achieve their maximum potential. It’s not only about gaining knowledge to be able to deal with new systems and practices, but detecting and eliminating bad habits and practices that invariably imbed themselves in activities we consider second nature.
- Increasing productivity—Productivity is not a commodity: It exists in the experience, knowledge, and dedication of your workers and their desire to explore new ways to extend the capabilities of the tools at their disposal. If you don’t continually involve your staff in the educational process, where then do you expect increases in productivity to come from?
- Reducing nonproductive supervisory effort—The more time your supervisors have to spend correcting routine mistakes or solving problems that happen over and over, the less time they can invest in positive pursuits. But that’s only part of the equation. While ongoing training can help your people stay focused on their tasks, perhaps the most important element here lies in the development of a team spirit…the “We’re all in this together“ attitude that characteristically distinguishes the exceptional organizations from the also-rans.
- Retention—Recent studies confirm what ought to be a pretty obvious conclusion: Organizations that fail to train their employees are more than three times as likely to lose them. Moreover, if one of your present equipment operators quits to go somewhere else, not only is he taking with him a serious investment in hands-on experience, but it leaves you with the need to hire and/or train a replacement…a process that can cost you both time and money.
- Financial bottom line—In view of all of the above, it is hardly a stretch to see a direct relationship between employee performance and an organization’s investment in its training programs and practices, assuming, of course, that this investment includes staying abreast of the times. One example of this is the impact of simulators on training programs in just the last couple of years. Another less direct example is the emergence of general education classes many organizations host to overcome language and math deficiencies among their workers…and families.
There are countless books and seminars on the mechanics of training, and a thousandfold more on the areas on which trainers focus, but the most effective training is only partially verbal, the critical aspects resting instead in the persona of you as the leader, your ability to project a consistent vision to every level of your organization. Where leaders lead, others will follow, after which (as we came to appreciate while humping our footlockers out onto the drill field at 0300 in the midst of a driving rainstorm) training proceeds as a beholder’s rather than a presenter’s art.
Author's Bio: John Trotti is the Group Editor for Forester Media. |
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